here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!
Stratoscope 15 hours ago [-]
That is a wonderful article!
> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
ComputerGuru 37 minutes ago [-]
TFA has a picture as well; just scroll down.
xnx 1 hours ago [-]
That rock couldn't have been found by a better guy.
I was going to suggest just this! I love Boaty McBoatface.
But as a resident of the Chicago area, I’m partial to Da Rock
aceazzameen 1 hours ago [-]
Can have the best of both worlds.
Da Rocky McRockface
tanseydavid 49 minutes ago [-]
Rocky McRockface is the perfect name and gets my vote.
tjwebbnorfolk 18 minutes ago [-]
I think this is the only valid name
Stratoscope 20 hours ago [-]
Here are the name finalists:
• Sweet Stone Chicago
• No ORDinary Rock
• Chicago Rocks
• O'Rock
• Orchard Rock
• Da Rock
"No ORDinary Rock" and "Orchard Rock" are the winners for me. They both pay tribute to how O'Hare got its IATA airport code in the 1940s, when it was called Orchard Field.
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
swingandamiss 39 minutes ago [-]
I like "Orchard Rock" because it's not some stupid reddit'ism.
lbriner 1 hours ago [-]
Just call it "Dwayne Johnson"?
Then in generations to some, old people can explain that Dwayne Johnson was the King of Wrestling and then became King of Hollywood.
robotnikman 48 minutes ago [-]
I like 'Da Rock' because it reminds me of da orks from Warhammer 40K
toddmorey 15 minutes ago [-]
Beanie’s Baby
jhatax 3 hours ago [-]
Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.
whycome 3 hours ago [-]
Wish I saw some of the larger list. This still seems weak.
ORD as an acronym? O Rock D
O’Hare Rock Dolostone
O’Hare Runway Dolomite
Rocky.
Da Dolo
RaftPeople 3 hours ago [-]
Ditka
anonymousDan 2 hours ago [-]
I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.
toddmorey 11 minutes ago [-]
“I am going to show you where on earth in the future we will find the biggest rock: Space.”
Interesting, the construction worker who found is said he never found one that big in all his years working in the field.
I had no idea that would be rare, what makes it relatively rare?
JoeAltmaier 3 hours ago [-]
"Mother's Love"
Because, we so often take it for granite.
bell-cot 2 hours ago [-]
[dead]
bcaulfield 19 hours ago [-]
Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.
cestith 7 hours ago [-]
Or Rudy Ray Moore.
PyWoody 2 hours ago [-]
If you're ever in the area of Madison, NH and have absolutely nothing else to do, the Madison Boulder is kinda neat. [0] It's a little bigger at about 5k tons.
Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.
ternaryoperator 3 hours ago [-]
Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?
crisnoble 2 hours ago [-]
In chicagoland, yes. For someone who moved there from California, it was strange that rocks hardly larger than a human warranted school field trips and plaques. Perhaps it is geologically cool, but I was unimpressed as a 6th grader. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53236492797_60069bde90_b...
waltbosz 1 hours ago [-]
I thought the same thing. My back yard is full of huge rocks. Nothing quite that large, maybe 1/3 of that size. A few doors down there is a boulder twice as big as the O'Hare one.
I'm speaking in volume. I'm not sure of the mass of these boulders.
hoppyhoppy2 3 hours ago [-]
Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.
Yizahi 2 hours ago [-]
Medium-rare I would guess
tptacek 3 hours ago [-]
Not from the look of it.
whycome 3 hours ago [-]
When Toronto had to name their team, I’m sure that the success of Jurassic Park helped the finalist (Raptors) win. I’m surprised “Rocky” didn’t make a finalist here (via Project Hail Mary).
Maybe that’s too Philadelphia.
O’Hare “Rocky” Dolomite
2 hours ago [-]
karlkloss 16 hours ago [-]
Rocky McRockface
mikewarot 15 hours ago [-]
Tangent time: I've got a smaller one in my yard, and I've got a set of feathers and wedges to avoid having to dig it all up at once. Here's a video of someone using feathers and wedges to split granite.
Years ago, a company that I worked for had a huge boulder in the parking lot area that had simply been built around. At some point, facilities decided they were going to remove the boulder. Employees printed up some tee shirts that said "Save the BFR". Because, you know, it was a big rock.
There's something about finding huge rocks in the ground while digging that makes you just want to take them out and like, use them for something? The last one I found I had to make myself leave it there (well I moved it over a foot so a pipe didn't have to go around it). Like no, it has sat here for thousands of years just fine, it can keep sitting. Glad to hear it applies to 50 ton ones, as well.
acomjean 17 hours ago [-]
In New England they made stone walls out of them. Of course most where smallish
Oh sure, I'm definitely familiar with those. The weird ones are in forests, a reminder that an area used to be clear and then was left to grow back.
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?
tptacek 3 hours ago [-]
Colbert is not a Chicago figure. You'd have to remind the median Chicagoan who knows who he is that he ever spent time here. You might just as easily name it after Bob Odenkirk.
Rendered at 22:05:55 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!
> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
[0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36225652
But as a resident of the Chicago area, I’m partial to Da Rock
Da Rocky McRockface
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
Then in generations to some, old people can explain that Dwayne Johnson was the King of Wrestling and then became King of Hollywood.
ORD as an acronym? O Rock D
O’Hare Rock Dolostone O’Hare Runway Dolomite
Rocky.
Da Dolo
https://youtu.be/aO0TUI9r-So?si=7fNwDvf86GpVFxDR
I had no idea that would be rare, what makes it relatively rare?
Because, we so often take it for granite.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Boulder
I'm speaking in volume. I'm not sure of the mass of these boulders.
Maybe that’s too Philadelphia.
O’Hare “Rocky” Dolomite
https://youtu.be/s7_z-SGxUAs?si=vUKYBWYvG7nncszd&t=924
https://time.com/5772944/large-small-boulder/
PS. If visiting Chicago check out the Lincoln Park Conservatory, an amazing historic plant collection with one of the world's best ferneries, very close to downtown. https://www.lincolnparkconservancy.org/projects/conservatory...
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/history/hist...
In “original” England they did as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
In “original” England they did as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_The_Colbert...